The prior art is already aware of methods and systems and the like which are utilized for cooling molds by directing a coolant into the interior of a mold handling molten material. In these prior arrangements, it is common practice to have flow tubes and connectors extending to the interior of a mold for fluid tightly conducting the coolant into and out of the mold interior. In these arrangements, the mold commonly has only blind passageways for receiving the connectors, and there is therefore a problem in threadedly connecting together the various connectors. In this regard, threaded members must be fluid tightly connected together and they must also be of extended lengths and be positioned such that they will adequately align with transverse blind passageways, for instance. In this art, any leakage in the coolant can cause an explosion in the mold, and also if the parts are not properly connected together, then there is expensive and time consuming dismantling and reworking or reassembly of the mold and the coolant connectors.
With further regard to this art, it should be understood that many molds and dies are, by necessity, custom built to the specifications and requirements of the individual part to be molded. This necessarily requires that the coolant connectors also be custom sized so that they extend to critical locations within the confines of the mold, all for the purpose of making the required connections and to be properly positioned in their critical locations.
Heretofore the art has resorted to a series of connectors which thread together while extending into the mold and thus hopefully they are fluid tight and are properly disposed in the critical positions mentioned. Examples of certain types of that prior art are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,828,509 and 3,343,221 and 4,091,069. The last patent shows a threaded connector and it also shows another piece which extends into a mold for cooling the mold, but in that instance the threaded connector itself is not required to be disposed within the confines of the mold, as in the present instance. Also, the other two patents show the connectors extending exteriorly of the particular mold itself, and they are also significantly different in their structure and method in that they are not of a one-piece construction which includes a threaded stem, and they do not employ the method of establishing the desired length and taper on the threaded stem, both as disclosed herein and as pertained to this invention. Accordingly, those three examples of prior art are different from the present invention.
Another form of the prior art connectors is shown in FIG. 7 herein and it will be seen that there is a two-piece unit which can be disposed within a mold but which must be threaded together therein and this presents the problem which the present invention has solved. The parts in FIG. 7 present problems of accuracy of installation within the mold and of fluid tight connections and of avoiding damage to the parts or of leaving the threaded nipple part within the mold when the other threaded part is removed from the mold. In the latter situation, the entire mold must be disassembled to remove the nipple, or the nipple itself must be destroyed by drilling out or use of extractors. These procedures are time consuming and costly and they are therefore avoided by not tightening the parts completely and then there is possibility of coolant leakage or the problem of aligning the remaining parts is then presented.
A further background, it should be understood that in order to avoid unnecessary costs and handling time, these molds are designed as compactly as possible. Consequently, the tooling connectors or junctions are by necessity also very compact. Therefore, when two threaded parts of a compact nature are joined together, such as in FIG. 7, there is a risk of interference fit with the threaded ends of the nipple and tubes extending into the junction and thus the freezing of the piece within the junction or the inherent leaking at the junction or there may be similar problems. Leaks are of course very undesirable in that they can cause parts to be scrapped and they can make the molding area slippery and dangerous and they can even cause explosions if water comes into contact with molten metal. Many times molds weighing thousands of pounds must be entirely removed from the molding press and completely disassembled to repair a leaking coolant junction. With today's investment costs of molds and molding machinery, water cooling apparatus must be accurately installed and operate dependably. The present invention considers these problems and improves upon the prior art in the manners mentioned in the foregoing and in manners mentioned in the description of this invention.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to overcome the aforesaid problems of both installation and operation of the cooling method and apparatus in this art. Specifically, it is and object of this invention to provide a method and apparatus in a cooling system which is useable in all molds of various sizes and to have the apparatus easily installed and easily removed and reliable in its liquid tightness. In accomplishing these objectives, the connector and the method of the present invention is to provide a junction piece which has a threaded stem which can be cut to a desired length and tapered threads can then be formed on the end of the remaining stem and thus the entire junction can be of a proper length and can be fluid tightly positioned within the mold, all for aligning transverse threaded openings in the junction with transverse passageways in the mold.
More specifically, the present invention provides a method and apparatus for utilizing a one-piece coolant junction part which eliminates the risk of leakage which can be torqued to the proper tightness and can subsequently be removed as one-piece without leaving another piece in the mold, and the one-piece permits easy holding of the piece while it is cut to the proper length and its threads are tapered, all without requiring the clamping of a short nipple which can be distorted in shape while it is being reworked to the customized mold conditions mentioned above. Further, the junction piece of this invention is provided with a stem having a length of threads of uniform pitch diameter, and that permits the cutting of the stem to the proper length and the easy tapering of the remaining threads. The rethreading forces are only minimal in that the original threads only need to be shaved to form the taper and thus the surface finish on those threads is improved and therefore reduces leakage possibilities.
Other objects and advantages will become apparent upon reading the following description in light of the accompanying drawings.